ESIS extension / Key Person Contacts and Organisations / Lebanon / Update Memo 4

Despite many difficulties that the Lebanese economic sectors are facing because of the recession prevailing all over the year 1999, the trend toward better organization and further mastery and implementation of new technology is becoming more obvious. During the quarter under review, many events have occured that confirm this trend.

Three Ministers have pointed out on many public occasions that the new technologies are there and that Lebanon has to ride the wave.

The Minister of P&T, Mr Issam NAAMAN, < www.mpt.gov.lb > through a draft law on the telecommunications, is paving the way toward a more liberal and competitive market. The idea of privatization, in conformity with the inaugural message of the Government, has become feasible now that the law authorizing privatization has been voted.

The Minister of Economy and Trade, Dr Nasser SAIDI, < www.economy.gov.lb > has since a long date stood firmly for the adoption of new technologies. He has supported the idea of a High Committee for IT and chaired the Y2K team since he was first vice-governor at the Central Bank < www.bdl.gov.lb >. He has also been a strong advocate of the recent law on Intellectual Property Rights Protection whose supervision falls within the competence of his staff. The trade efficiency program conducted under his supervision with the support of the European Union, has a technical part using IT resources.

The Minister of Transport, Mr Nagib MIKATI, has also appeared as a key figure in promoting the Information Society. In his Ministry, he systematically pushes for the use of new productivity tools and advocates the reingeneering of public bodies to allow for the introduction of new technologies . Before taking office in the Government instated in December 1998, Mr MIKATI was known since the early 90s for his competence in the telecommunications business.

Dr Georges CORM, Minister of Finance < www.finance.gov.lb > has confirmed the trend already set in the Ministry, to extend the computerization of the tax department and the property registry. These two projects are being implemented with an international assistance from the World Bank, the European Union and the Canadian Government.

A special mention is to be made, within this Ministry, of a training and research unit, launched a couple of years ago. The Institute of Finance < www.if.org.lb > has implemented a program to train the staff of the Ministry on basis of Economics and Computer use. Regular training sessions are being held that spread over one week. The project has been started thanks to financing from France relayed by financing from the European Union.

The Beirut Stock Exchange has been revitalized by the Minister CORM and a new board has been appointed. The new technologies were recently introduced through a new sophisticated software offered by the Bourse of Paris. The orders are now being processed on line. A project now under consideration aims at linking the different Arab stock exchange through the Internet.

The Central Bank < www.bdl.gov.lb > under the impulse of the governor Mr Riad SALAMÉ has played a crucial role in pushing the whole banking sector to adopt the new technologies. Many daily transactions between the banks and the Central Bank are done through the fixed telecommunications network and a project is expected soon that will allow the daily clearing session to be conducted on line.

We recall that already many banks have put some of their services at the disposal of their customers using advanced technologies (ATMs, phone banking, automated statements on line, etc...) but they are not yet fully implementing the e-banking. In this respect, a recent law extended the authority of the Central Bank to regulate these new activities.

The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon IDAL < www.idal.com.lb > has been recently restructured. Its CEO, Mr Kamal HAYEK, has reorganized the various departments and has created a One-Stop-Shop unit to enhance the efficiency of the services rendered by IDAL to local and foreign investors. IDAL has been recently designated by the Prime Minister to oversee the feasibility study concerning the project "Beirut Emerging Technology Zone" (BETZ). See reg report for details.

The Association of Banks in Lebanon < www.abl.org.lb > has been very active in promoting the training of the Human Resources in the financial sector. A specialized seminar, focused on e-banking has been organized for this purpose (January 2000). The head the training unit at the Association, Mrs Fadoie MANSOUR, has recently pointed out that the training on using computers and network technologies is being extended and that the number of trainees is increasing regularly.

The International Chamber of Commerce – Beirut is deploying a great effort for the benefit of the business community. Its Secretary General, Dr Louis HOBEIKA, also CEO of SODETEL < www.sodetel.net.lb >, is frequently animating sessions relating to e-commerce and telecommunications.

The secretary of the ICC, Mr Ramzi ABDUL FATTAH, is also a key figure in the ICC activity. The ICC contributed to the organization of the e-banking seminar launched by the Association of Banks.

The Professional Computer Association < www.pca.org.lb > constituted in 1996 aims at improving the ethical standards of the affiliated companies and organizing the efforts of the community of its companies to defend their interests in an efficient way. This association aims also at disseminating the use of new technologies and promote the business through the organization of seminars and exhibitions. The elected Board has good relations with the Governmental authorities and has been instrumental in pushing for the adoption of the IPR law.

The President is presently Dr Sami NSEIRI, the vice-president, Mr Jalal FAWAZ, the general secretary, Mr Claude BAHSALI and the Treasurer, Mr Antoine KAWKABANI.

Recently, the association has invited the Universities to share thoughts about the best way to envision the promotion of the IS in Lebanon.

The higher education landscape could seem strange to the external observer. A very small country (4 millions inhabitants) and 20 universities is difficult to comprehend. Out of these 20 institutions only 6 are generally considered genuinely so according to the number of enrollments and the diversity of the curricula. These are:

All these universities had since long ago traditional engineering and computer science teaching. They are now pushing for specialized curricula on the Economics of Information and new technologies.

Academic events concerning the information society will definitely have a wide impact in the near future.

The market for new technologies is moving fast and is rapidly expanding. The main actors being the Internet Service Providers and the telecom services providers who prepare for the coming economic competition after liberalization. Already the ISPs are providing services at very low rates. The most active ISPs are:

The number of subscribers, according to our best educated guess, could have reached 100 000 this quarter. The reason behind this guess is that two ISPs (Data Management and Net Hopper) have teamed with two banks (Byblos Bank < www.byblos.com.lb > and Bank Audi < www.audi.com.lb >) to launch agressive campaigns targeting school and university students with credit facilities to acquire a computer and get a free internet connection.

Please note that this report has been prepared under the sole responsibility of the ESIS II contractors.
It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, nor does the Commission accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein.
The ESIS Team of contractors welcomes any additional information or corrections.